Texas_Highways_-_October_2019

OCTOBER 2019 7

Soft Landing
Good article about Apollo’s 50th anniver-
sary [“Remembering the Moonshot,” July].
However, Mr. Brinkley didn’t mention that
the fi rst thing to touch the moon, on that
fi rst human landing, contained materi-
als made by Texans in Graham at the now
closed Hexcel manufacturing plant. The
energy absorption material contained in
the legs of the lunar module was made
there and provided the astronauts with a
safe and cushioned landing on the moon.
Wayne Williams, Burleson

A Tragic Turning Point
The New London school explosion [“The
Day a Generation Died,” August] was and
still is a horrifi c tragedy with the loss of
lives of students and teachers. But in re-
calling how terrible the explosion was,
the lives that were lost, and the awful af-
termath that is depicted in the New Lon-
don Museum and in stories told by sur-
vivors, not all is bad. Out of that terrible

MESQUITE BEAN BOUNTY

Chorupes in Spanish. We ate them

as kids out in West Texas and when visiting

family in Ojinaga [Mexico]. So yummy.

@lavidanorita

I can’t wait to purchase some mesquite

beans and see how this story unfolds.

So many memories of these beans and

wondering what they were used for.

Until now.

@drjbar

RESTFUL RAILCARS

We loved staying in the cabooses at

The Antlers Inn in Kingsland. My son

was over the moon!

Heather Kenley, Austin

My mother’s family lived in a train car for

real when she was a kid in the early 1900s.

Jean Ann Tatum, Wadsworth

MERGE

READERS RESPOND

pies, and my husband loves the

fried baloney.

Bette Clifford Roberts, Livingston

Trailing our Ancestors

I live in Seguin where my ancestors from

Germany settled, traveling from Indi-

anola. I have a vacation home a few miles

from Indianola, and we often travel the

same route as the author of this article

[“Indianola, Onward,” June]. I often think

of my ancestors as I make this trip, but

not of the hardships they endured.

Sandra Cunningham, Seguin

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Austin, TX, 78714-1009.

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tragedy came remarkable actions by

the State of Texas to regulate engineer-

ing and add an odorizer to natural gas to

save lives.

Robert P. Mills, Keller

Hometown Memories

My family moved to Schulenburg [“My

Hometown,” August] in 1966. I gradu-

ated in ’68 and went to university in West

Texas, then lived in South America. My

family moved away, but I’ve always had a

soft spot for this wonderful little town.

Jack Walker, Dallas

Baloney and Pie

We found the Midpoint Café [“Three for

the Road,” August] when we drove Route

66 in my Corvette from Santa Monica,

California, to Chicago. I read about the

pies but didn’t know about the fried ba-

loney sandwich until we got there. Now

we stop there every time we take I-

through the Texas Panhandle. I love the

Illustration:Nick Lu

You can travel the world in Texas—Paris, Athens,

Moscow, Italy, and I could go on and on.

Randall Terry, San Antonio